There are a couple of things about this. Firstly yes it does happen, it happened at my startup and others that I know. Secondly, it is an indicator of how ine

There are a couple of things about this. Firstly yes it does happen, it happened at my startup and others that I know. Secondly, it is an indicator of how inexperienced the team (and management) at the startup are. Research has shown that knowledge workers spend typically less than 20 hours a week doing actual productive work, and beyond that it's ass in seat time (read Peopleware). It is somewhat counter intuitive but often (not always) the way to launch (or whatever your goal) is to work less hours not more. My last gig (which required considerable programming skill) only needed me to spend 4-6 hours a day to get a prototype of a truly innovative product. Most good senior developers don't do more than 40 hour weeks and most good managers + CTOs don't ask for it because they know it hinders, not helps. Junior devs often do it because they don't know better and inexperienced management encourage it because they think more work hours == more work (flat out wrong). Finally one of the reasons why this may be the case is it (a)is what startups to (b) looks good to investors.